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Last updated 16 May 2014

STANDARD 05:24

Welcome to the BBC's live coverage of the Indian election vote count. The 551 million votes from more than 1.8 million electronic voting machines are being tallied with early results indicating a strong lead for the main opposition BJP party.

TWEET 05:26

The BBC's Shilpa Kannan : The first loss for Congress might be from Baghpat in UP where ally & former Civil Aviation minister Ajit Singh trailing badly #Verdict2014

STANDARD 05:29

There was a record turnout in this year's poll, with 66.38 percent of India's 814 million eligible voters casting ballots during the six-week contest. BBC Correspondents will be providing regular updates and analysis of the results and what they mean for India's powerbrokers.

STANDARD 05:32

Whoever wins this election needs to secure 272 seats out of 543 constituencies. Within a few hours we expect to have sense indication of who the winners and losers are after five gruelling and sometimes bitter weeks of campaigning.

STANDARD 05:34

Indian election officials are well on the way of unlocking the votes contained in the Electronic Voting Machines

STANDARD 05:44

The status is known for 424 out of 543 constituencies and the BJP is leading in 225 of these which appears to put it on a secure footing, the BBC's Soutik Biswas reports.

STANDARD 05:48

In the politically crucial state of Uttar Pradesh which sends 80 MPs to parliament, the latest results show that the BJP leads in 57 seats and the local Samajwadi party in nine.

STANDARD 05:50

Security has been tightened, but even the police are not immune from the excitement of a vote count at this Delhi count centre

TWEET 05:56

Sanjoy Majumder, BBC News, Delhi

The scene at the BJP headquarters resembles a carnival. The entire building has been decorated with the party flag, giant posters of Narendra Modi have been placed outside and large television screens are displaying the vote count. And as early trends showed the BJP grabbing a lead, the cheers began.

STANDARD 05:58

Facebook have announced that from the day elections were announced to the day polling ended, 29 million people in India made 227 million interactions (posts, comments, shares, and likes) regarding the Indian Elections on Facebook.